I was also driven to despair by cormorants, until a neighbor who works at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute gave me a tip: Birds don't like to land on something that will give way underfoot.
He showed me how to hoist what I've dubbed a "false yard-arm" from my main halyard. I took a length of 1-inch PVC tubing, rigged a yoke, which I attached to the halyard, and a second line which I use as a downhaul. The piece is long enough so that it rests against the top spreaders, held in place by the wind. (I'm on a mooring.)
When I finish sailing, I hoist this contraption, forward of the mast, until it's about 5 or 8 inches above and parallel to my spreaders. Then I tie down the downhaul. I've also hung cable ties and pieces of thin line to the "yard arm." It seems to work.
Somewhere I've got pictures of the contraption--which I could e-mail to you. I haven't joined Photobucket or one of the other services yet.
--Joe
X!#%&@ Birds
Moderator: Jim Walsh
-
Joe Myerson
- Posts: 2216
- Joined: Feb 6th, '05, 11:22
- Location: s/v Creme Brulee, CD 25D, Hull #80, Squeteague Harbor, MA
"False yard-arm"
Former Commodore, CDSOA
Former Captain, Northeast Fleet
S/V Crème Brûlée, CD 25D, Hull # 80
"What a greate matter it is to saile a shyppe or goe to sea."
--Capt. John Smith, 1627
Former Captain, Northeast Fleet
S/V Crème Brûlée, CD 25D, Hull # 80
"What a greate matter it is to saile a shyppe or goe to sea."
--Capt. John Smith, 1627